Name the language
This week we have a recording of a mystery language. Can you identify it? Here it is.
A few clues: this language is part of a large, widely scattered language family and is spoken mainly on a group of quite remote islands. This language has a regular spelling system devised by a missionary during the 19th century.
The recording is a news item from an online radio station. I don’t understand it, but I think the story has something to do with Walmart.
August 19th, 2006 in
Language, Quiz questions
might the language be maltese?
but i’m not able to provide a translation
No, it’s not Maltese.
Is it one of the languages from the south-east asian areas like indonesia?
could it even be hawaiian or fijian?
It’s part of the same language family as Indonesia, but isn’t spoken in Southeast Asia.
i’ll try and figure it out tomorrow its late here in australia bye!!
Sounds like Manx to me.
It sounds like a Melanesian language, possibly Marshallese.
Declan – it’s not Manx.
Podolsky – you’re getting warmer, but it’s not Marshallese.
It is definitely Asian.
My guess would be philippino or Thai, but it includes some missionaries here hmmm so maybe it is philippino…. or malay?
It’s not Philippino or Malay.
My guess was Chamorro, but its alphabet was invented in 1668. Something similar maybe?
ummmmm ………Maori ?
Samoan?
This is a long shot, but…Javanese?
I didn’t listen to it, but from the description, it sounds like it may be a polynesian language particularly Hawaiian. Although that language has been written for centuries it was standardised in the 19th century. Anyway, are polynesian languages the same family as bahasa malaysia/bahasa indonesia. The only other guess I have is the language from madagascar.
Malagasy, that’s it. I checked. Where’s my prize?
tataaa!!! @@
and how did you get that!!?
Argh, I had convinced myself it was Fijiian.
Somedude – sorry, no prize for you. It’s not Malagasy.
Other guesses are in the right language family – Polynesian, but not the right language.
This weeks winner is – Patrick Hall – it is indeed Fijian.
Your prize, if you choose to accept it, is to come up with a question for next week’s quiz. If you have any bright ideas, please email me (questions[at]omniglot[dot]com). Please google-test any questions first though – i.e. if you can find the answer quickly in Google of another search engine, the question is too easy.
I’ve just noticed that one of David’s suggestions was Fijian – so he got it as well. Well done!
and you forgot to add, to give me the answer before posting the question here :)
It sounds like Tagalog to me.
Oh, poot!
Hmmmmm…the only thing missing I guess was that Madagascar is an island, not a group of them.
Well, better luck next time, I guess.
Hey wow :)
Okay I’ll get a suggestion into an email, Simon.
Love the site. ☺
I asked earlier was it fijian. All well good luck next time.
David, drop me a line at pathall@gmail and we can collaborate to pick next week’s language, what do you think?
I hadn’t read your comment, I promise. ☺
While obviously far too late in stumbling across this, I picked it out straight away. I’m from down in New Zealand, but my mother was born in Fiji (to New Zealander parents) – I guess when someone tells you off in a language when you’re growing up, certain recognition patterns stay with you for life :-)